Chapter 25 Lily
LILY
When we emerged from the skeleton door inside the skull head, I realized we had to fly all the way back to the Southern Isles with my brother clinging to life. It was a day of flight, a day without treatment.
We set the hammock on the sand inside the ring of torches, on top of the piles of bones stored underneath.
It was dark when we emerged, but the torches didn’t light up when we were there.
Callum went around and started to light them, to bring illumination to the clearing.
The dragons came over and landed around us, and Khazmuda immediately walked over Hawk’s body and dropped his snout to his face, gently rubbing against his cheek.
“I need you to stop the bleeding,” my father said to all the dragons together. “Keep him stable until we get back and I can get him to a healer. I also need someone to carry him.”
Callum returned with the pack he’d left behind, pulling out a rope that he used around the hammock he’d built to create a harness.
Then he strapped my brother down to the hammock so he wouldn’t slip out on the flight.
“This should hold him in place while we fly back.” He hooked the harness to the strap underneath Khazmuda’s belly.
My father must have been utterly terrified, but he kept a hard expression and focused on the path ahead.
“Let’s go. I’ll fly ahead first. That way, you can all keep an eye on Hawk from the rear.
” He mounted Khazmuda, who immediately launched into the sky and glided away to give the dragons space to launch.
Callum and I were on Zehemoth again, while Viper took Scion, and Aunt Eldinar and Uncle Ezra shared Macabre. All our dragons launched into the sky, using their energy to fly and also sustain Hawk’s injuries as we made the long journey back to the Southern Isles.
My mother was there when we landed, like my father had already told her everything that had happened. A team of healers was ready to receive Hawk, so Khazmuda gently brought him to the ground before he dropped directly beside him.
Hawk was cut free from the straps, and then the healers lifted his hammock and brought him into the castle so they could treat him in his bedchambers.
My father slowly walked up to my mother, his eyes heavy from weariness and sorrow. “He’ll be okay.” His hands cupped her cheeks and swiped her tears away with his thumbs. “If I can survive a stab from a cursed blade, he can survive this.”
She grabbed on to his wrists the same way I grabbed on to Callum’s when he held me like that. She gave a nod through her tears.
“We just have to be patient, and then all of this will finally be over.”
I didn’t feel the serene layer of peace across my shoulders. Didn’t feel excited for the future. All I could think about was my brother, who still hadn’t woken up, even though an entire day had passed.
Everyone was morose, not saying much to one another, just waiting for news.
Callum and I returned to our villa, but we were distant with each other, like we were both mentally occupied by my brother’s well-being instead of each other.
Viper even stopped by in the hope that I had an update, and whatever tension had existed between the three of us had disappeared in light of what had happened to Hawk.
The three of us even sat at the dining table together, drinking the wine that Callum had made himself.
Viper took a sip. “Pretty decent stuff.”
Callum gave a slight nod in gratitude.
“I didn’t see what happened to Hawk,” he said as he looked at Callum. “Did you?”
Callum shook his head. “That battle was chaos. But it looked like he’d been stabbed with a dagger or the edge of a blade.
Hard to know with the way his armor was destroyed.
But the dragons were able to keep Talon alive for a long time, so I imagine they’ll be able to do the same now.
He’s young and healthy, so he should start to heal quickly. ”
“I hope so,” Viper said. “He’s a good guy.”
“That’s nice of you to say,” I said quietly.
Viper shifted his gaze to me.
“My brother and I had never been close, until all of this happened. We’ve somehow become friends through it all, so this hurts a lot more.”
“He’ll be okay, Xivin.”
I felt Callum’s stare pierce the side of my face before I gave a nod. “What will you do now, Viper?”
“Return home,” he said. “And stay there for a while. I’ve traveled enough for a lifetime.”
“That’s fair,” I said.
“Life had been pretty unremarkable for the last hundred years. And then in the last few, it’s been one battle after another. I’m eager for some peace and quiet. But with my luck, when I get home, my brother will tell me we’re at war.”
“And if that were to happen, you’d have an army of dragons flying across the sky to your aid, so it would be a quick battle.”
He looked at me and gave a slight nod in gratitude. “There’s been a lot of loss and bloodshed, but it seems like everything has worked out in the end. I think I can speak for everyone when I say it was worth it.”
I gave a nod in appreciation.
There was a knock on the door, and we all turned to the doorway.
“It’s open,” I said.
A guard opened the door and crossed the threshold. “Prince Hawk has awoken.”
I stepped into my brother's bedchambers with Callum at my side.
My mother was at his bedside just the way she’d been when I’d woken up after I’d sailed across the sea for three days alone. She held his hand and ran her fingers through his hair.
His eyes were heavy, and his skin was pale, like he’d lost a lot of blood.
My father was in the armchair on the other side of the bed, eyes bloodshot and tired like he’d been up for days straight, worried about his son.
I felt horrible for everything my parents had been through the last couple of months.
Hawk slowly turned to look at me, squinting before he had the strength to open his eyes fully. “Fucking badass.”
I felt the involuntary smile move over my lips as my eyes watered.
“Kicked their asses.”
“Looks like you’re feeling better,” I said with hot tears in my throat.
“I won’t be moving for a week, but at least I’m not dead anymore.”
“You were never dead,” Mom said gently.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I saw Riviana, but she told me to go back. Or maybe that was a dream…not really sure.”
My father stared down at him, his expression indecipherable.
“So…it’s done?” he asked. “No more demons and war?”
“It’s done,” I said. “Now we can go fishing and hiking like a normal brother and sister.”
He gave a weak smile. “Sounds good to me. Or maybe we can race our dragons. That’d be fun.”
“No dragon racing,” my father said quietly.
Hawk gave a slight shake of his head that clearly said, “Yeah, whatever.”
My father and I said goodbye to Viper before he left.
Scion stood in the courtyard with his pack hooked to the saddle and waited for him to climb up his side so they could disembark.
My father clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re a brave young man, and I appreciate all the courage you’ve shown the Southern Isles. If you ever call for our aid, we will answer with our dragons, navy, and allies.”
Viper nodded. “I appreciate that, King Talon.”
My father smiled slightly. “I’ve decided to step down from the position and give it to someone more worthy.”
My eyebrows lifted because this hadn’t been expressed to me prior.
“Lily and I haven’t had a chance to discuss it yet, but I’d like her to take my place as Queen of the Southern Isles and Protector of Free Dragons,” he said. “And I know she’ll honor the call.”
Viper switched his gaze to me, smiling slightly, like he knew we were about to have a fun conversation after he departed. “I can’t think of anyone better for the position.” Viper shook my father’s hand then turned to me.
My father silently excused himself and crossed the courtyard to where the cemetery was. He took a seat on the bench and waited until our conversation was concluded.
When it was just the two of us, Viper dropped his smile. “I’m glad everything worked out in the end—and we’re both still alive.”
“Yeah, we’re very fortunate.”
“First time I’ve witnessed you in battle. Very impressed.”
“Well, thank you. But I can’t take all the credit. Most of it is the strength Callum gave me, strength I still have even though the Covenant has been destroyed. I don’t really understand it.”
“Because you’re meant to keep it,” he said. “That’s what I think.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
He turned serious, staring at me for a while. “I wish you two an eternity of happiness.”
“That’s nice of you to say.”
“I mean it. He’s a decent guy. A lot easier to see now that he’s not the god of the underworld.”
“Yeah,” I said. “So this might be the last time we see each other.”
“Unless I show up again next week,” he teased. “And again…”
I laughed at his joke.
“We’re all immortal. I’m sure we’ll cross paths again at some point.
” He moved his hand to my shoulder in a gesture of friendship, gave it a gentle squeeze, and then turned to climb up the side of his dragon.
Scion rose to the sky immediately, blocking the sun just for a second, and then started to glide as he soared over the ocean.
I watched him until he became a dot before I headed back to my father.
He was in the cemetery, kneeling down before a grave with a red geranium in his hand.
He placed it on the gravestone before he used his bare palm to clean the surface of the tombstone free of a layer of dust and salt air that had accumulated since the last time it’d been cleaned.
Then he returned to the bench where he’d waited for me.
I walked over, unsure if he knew I’d watched him place that flower on his first wife’s and daughter’s grave. I took the seat beside him, and we stared at the courtyard together in heavy silence.
“You want to elaborate on what you said back there?” I finally asked.
He rested his arm over the back of the bench, wearing casual attire instead of his king’s armor. “Lily, I raised you to be queen—so you should be queen.”